


Silents In The Library

by SevenForASecret



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 04:34:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevenForASecret/pseuds/SevenForASecret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The TARDIS picks up a strange distress call that brings The Doctor and his companion Donna Noble to The Library. There, they meet some new friends. (Well, new to their position in the time stream.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silents In The Library

 The Doctor was standing at the console, considering what sort of swim trunks to wear when it happened. The console room was empty, lucky for him. Donna was off in her room or in the wardrobe, doing whatever human women did to get ready to go to the beach. 

The TARDIS gave an odd whir, a sound of complaint, rather like a hiccup. He immediately caressed a bit of the console. "What's wrong, dear?" He crooned softly. "You were doing so well lately."

The time machine whirred again, and then a speaker crackled to life. The voice that came over it was no voice he recognised, but that didn't mean anything. Perils of life as a time traveler, really. The voice was low, like she was whispering, at least at first, and sounded distinctly Scottish.

_"Help me. Please, I can't. I can't see. Somebody help me. I can't see."_

The Doctor's eyes furrowed. It wasn't unusual for the TARDIS to pick up distress signals, but this wasn't quite like before. He didn't call it up, it just came through on it's own. "What's that you've picked up?" He asked curiously, trying to pinpoint the location. As he pressed buttons and levers, though, the message continued.

" _It's dark. So dark. I don't know where I am, but we haven't left The Library, Please, can anybody hear me?"_

"I can hear you." The Doctor said, even though he knew the woman speaking couldn't hear him. He moved faster, narrowing the signal down to human, before his hearts skipped a beat.

" _Doctor, are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this."_

The Doctor forced himself to swallow and bashed the speaker with the hammer when it went dead. "We're coming, whoever you are." He swore. 

Then he bounded through the hallways. "Donna!" He shouted to his companion. "Change of plans! We're going to The Library!"

* * *

 

 "Books, Donna. People never really stop loving books." The Doctor enthused as they walked through the library. "Fifty first century. By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna. Deep breath." He took a deep breath himself, trying to find out as much as he could. "The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big _The_."

Donna did not look enthused. She had been promised a beach, not a trip to the stacks, thank you very much. Still, she couldn't help but be amazed by the scope of it all. "It's like a city."

"It's a world. Literally, a world." The Doctor corrected, enjoying the place even if he was here on a rescue mission. "The whole core of the planet is the index computer. Biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed." He bounced on the balls of his feet, holding up a finger to test the temperature, direction and face of the wind. "We're near the equator, so this must be... _biographies_! I love biographies."

"Yeah, very you, always a death at the end." Donna observed, in her rather cynical way. 

"You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size." Considering he had done it nine times now, he thought himself rather the expert on the subject. He let out a sound of protest as his companion picked up a book that had been discarded on the railing. "Heya, Spoilers!"

"What?" Donna said, rather annoyed. She was missing out on a beach to see a library, and he was taking the first book she picked up away from her? That wasn't fair.

"These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead. Spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end." The Doctor explained, deliberately holding it away from her. 

Donna put her hands on her hips. "Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?" She asked, trying to make sense of it all.

"I try to keep you away from major plot developments." The Doctor defended himself, even as he realised the oddity he was standing in the middle of. "Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at, because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone? It's silent." He hurried over to the nearest computer station, bringing out the sonic screwdriver. 

"The library?" Donna confirmed, following him at a small distance.

"The planet. The whole planet." The Doctor corrected, tapping away at keys.

Donna didn't like the sound of that, so she went for a slightly rational answer she knew was probably not going to be right. "Maybe it's a Sunday."

The Doctor took her query seriously. "No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring."

Donna made a face and lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "Well, maybe everyone's really, _really_ quiet."

"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system." The Doctor said, still tapping away at the computer.

Donna was fed up with the mystery and the change in plans. "Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?"

The Doctor glanced up, and did what he did best. He lied. "Oh, you know, just passing."

Donna believed that as much as she believed her Granddad would give up his meat pies. "No, seriously. It was all let's hit the beach, then suddenly we're in a library. Why?"

The Doctor didn't answer. He didn't quite know how to answer. Instead, he focused on his latest discovery. "Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids. You know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get over two hundred in this quadrant." He gestures to the screen which had climbed up to two-hundred and two.

"What like, here?" Donna asked. "In this section? But there's nothing here. There's no one."

"Exactly." The Doctor observed. "Two hundred life forms here, and not a sound. Silence in the library."

Donna froze, looking over in a corner. "Doctor?" She said, voice rising. 

"What's wrong, Donna?" The Doctor said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Donna looked over at him, and her eyes seemed to clear. "Yeah, fine."

"You're certain?" The Doctor said. 

"Of course." Donna replied, shrugging off his hand with ease, shaking her head to dispel the sudden feeling of wrongness as something broke the silence.

"Welcome!"

 


End file.
